Rain today more of a novelty than drought solution

The rairity that is rain fell today in the north valley and snow fell in the mountains, but no one was fooled into thinking the drought is over.

The National Weather Service put rainfall totals at 0.29 inch in Chico, 0.37 inch at the Oroville Airport and 0.66 inch in Paradise, as of deadline.

It's the second rain this year, but only a few hundredths of an inch were recorded on Jan. 11.

Today's rain put the seasonal total since July 1 at 3.76 inches in Chico, 3.97 inches in Oroville and 6.74 inches in Paradise. In an average year, 14.22 inches would have fallen in Chico by the end of January.

In the foothills Wednesday, there was 1.14 inches in Magalia, 1.00 inch at Jarbo Gap and 1.04 inches at Bucks Lake.

The rain did foul traffic, as it loosened oil that collects in roadway cracks and crevices, making for slippery conditions.

The rain was expected to taper off about 4 a.m. Thursday, with just a 50 percent chance of it continuing through Thursday night, according to the Weather Service. There's just a 20 percent chance of rain Friday, and Saturday and beyond are supposed to be mostly sunny.

The National Weather Service said the snow level was expected to drop to about 6,000 feet Thursday, with up to 2 feet accumulating above 8,000 feet.

"This is only a moderate storm by Sierra standards. But considering we haven't had any storms for the last few weeks, it's a pretty big deal," National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Tolby told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

As of Tuesday, snow water content was 12 percent of normal in the central Sierra and 5 percent of normal in the northern Sierra, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

The snowpack atop Donner Summit where U.S. Interstate 80 crosses the Sierra southwest of Truckee is the lowest it has ever been at this time of year in records dating back to the late 1800s, Tolby said.

"We're definitely in uncharted territory. These are some of the driest conditions the Sierra has seen in recent recorded history," he said. "This one storm isn't going to make a large dent in the drought conditions, but it will help."